ENGLISH DEPARTMENT



ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Undergraduate and Graduate Courses

Spring 2011

ENGLISH COURSES AND YOUR CAREER

Courses in English not only instill knowledge of language, literature, rhetoric, and writing and an awareness of diverse ideas, culture, languages, and viewpoints, but also foster a flexible set of skills that employers value: the ability to think, read and write critically and expressively; to analyze, interpret, and adapt complex ideas and texts; to solve problems creatively; and to research, manage, and synthesize information. Those with degrees in English go on to thrive in a wide range of fields, including education, law, medicine, business, finance, marketing, writing, community service and nonprofit work, journalism, editing, the arts, library and museum work. The English Department offers a variety of courses in creative writing, technical communication, linguistics, literature, rhetoric and writing. So whether you’re looking for an introductory course or a graduate seminar, a class in language or in writing, a broad survey of literature or a seminar on a specialized topic, chances are we have a course suited for you.

NOTE: Newly Declared majors and minors should take ENGL 2100 as soon as it can be scheduled after ENGL 1101 and 1102 or 1103. English 3100 should be as taken soon as ENGL 2100 is completed. Transfer students should schedule ENGL 2100 in their first semester at UNC-Charlotte.

Topics in English: Disney and Children’s Literature (W) (3)

2090-A02 Connolly MW 03:30PM-04:45PM

Cross listed with AMST. In this class, we will study the development of Disney short-and feature-length animated films, ranging from Silly Symphonies and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to more recent films like Beauty and the Beast. We will also explore the translation of children’s literature to film by reading the fairytales and stories from which those films were adapted. Such study of story and film will allow us opportunities to examine how Disney films both reflect and affect American culture.

Writing about Literature (W) (3)

2100-001 Jackson TR 02:00PM-03:15PM

2100-002 Hall TR 12:30PM-01:45PM

2100-003 Davis, C MW 03:30PM-04:45PM

2100-090 Bosley M 06:30PM-09:15PM

This first course in the major and prerequisite to ENGL 3100 (also required early in the major) focuses on writing processes and a range of writing modes in the discipline, including argument. Introduction to basic research skills and literary analysis.

Introduction to Technical Communication (W) (3)

2116-001 Lazenby MW 02:00PM-03:15PM

2116-002 Lazenby TR 03:30PM-04:45PM

2116-003 Meusing TR 09:30AM-10:45AM

2116-004 Cox TR 12:30PM-01:45PM

2116-005 Muesing TR 11:00AM-12:15PM

2116-006 Cox TR 02:00PM-03:15PM

2116-007 Toscano MW 03:30PM-04:45PM

2116-090 Lazenby T 06:30PM-09:15PM

This course is designed to show you how to solve technical problems through writing. Emphasis will be placed upon the types of writing, both formal and informal, that you will most likely do in the workplace. In this course you should learn:

• the theoretical bases of technical communication;

• the most common forms of technical documents;

• how to plan, draft, and revise documents;

• how to work and write collaboratively; and

• how to integrate text and visual elements into technical documents.

Introduction to Fiction Writing (W) (3)

2128-090 Gwyn M 06:30PM-09:15PM

In this class we will learn a set of terms for describing the elements of good fiction, and we will begin to practice one of the most fundamental kinds of story-writing: the plot which involves a self-recognition and reversal. This plot has been fundamental to narrative at least since Aristotle explained its nature in his Poetics. While it is one of the most universal plots, it is still one of the most difficult to master. We will read Aristotle on plot as well as a selection of modern short fiction whose plots work according to the principles that Aristotle laid out so long ago. In this way, we will all be creating our own individual stories in our own individual voices; and, at the same time, we will be a community working on a shared form. We may not master this plot in one term; but, if we seriously work at it, we will learn much about the craft of story-writing. Fulfills prerequisite for advanced fiction workshops, ENGL 4203 and ENGL 4209.

Introduction to African American Literature (L) (3)

2301-001 Leak MW 02:00PM-03:15PM

Cross-listed with AAAS 2301 and AMST 3000:  This course offers an introduction to African-American literature written from the 18th century through the contemporary period.  Genres we will cover include poetry, narrative, fiction, Drama, and essays.  It is a prerequisite for upper-level African-American literature courses in the English department. Requirements include quizzes, midterm and final exams, and one creative project.

Topics in English: Introduction to U.S. Latino/a Literature (3)

3050-001 Socolovsky TR 11:00AM-12:15PM

This course examines a selection of 20th century literature written in English in the U.S. by Latino/a writers, and is designed to introduce students to the variety of texts and contexts which shape contemporary U.S. Latino literary experiences.  Looking at texts by Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and Dominican American writers, including Gloria Anzaldua, Sandra Cisneros, Piri Thomas, Cristina Garcia, Oscar Hijuelos and Julia Alvarez, we will focus on the narrativization of memory and place, and ask how the writers narrate their particular experience of ethnicity.  Other important questions we will consider are:  How are issues of immigration and assimilation grounded in the texts?  How do history and exile figure in Latino/a texts?  And finally, how do Latino/a writers figure and position their bodies, in terms of race and ethnicity?

Topics in English: Grammar, Vocabulary and Etymology (3)

3050-003 Davis, B T 05:00PM-07:45PM

Whether it’s a brush-up, an introduction, or a chance to go on Jeopardy, most people are eager to feel assured about their command of English grammar, and their knowledge of the right word for a situation, and how to improve their own style. The new corpus-based approach to grammar shows how parts of speech are conditioned by spoken and written genre; the histories of words and popular sayings are classic vocabulary-extenders.

Topics in English: Mind and Language (3)

3050-091 Theide M 06:30PM-09:15PM

This course investigates how the architecture of language reflects (and may be determined by) the architecture of the human mind.  That inquiry cuts across a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence research.  We will base our readings on a working understanding of the grammar of English, which will require a compressed review of it as we go along.  Thus, the course counts towards the minor in Cognitive Science and also satisfies the Applied Linguistics requirement for majors of English.

At the end of the class, you will know the fundamental concepts in cognitive science and linguistics, and how they interface theoretically.  Specifically, we will investigate the nature of linguistic competence, the biological basis of language, language acquisition, grammar/production and parser/reception, as well as the structure of the lexicon and the processing of discourse

Topics in English: Early African American Women Writers (3)

3050-A02 Lewis TR 12:30PM-01:45PM

This class will explore the evolution of African American Literature from its poetic representations in the 18th century through the essays and novels of the late 19th century. We will read and consider several genres within the African American tradition between these mediums as well with the goal of developing an understanding of the major aesthetic, political, social, and concerns of this period. We will be especially interested in the historical moments that informed these literary productions and how earlier texts informed the cultural productions that followed them. Students will be encouraged to utilize the resources of the library’s Rare Books Collection in developing original projects based thematically on concerns of this course.

Topics in English: Masterpieces of Russian Literature (W) (3)

3051-R01 Baldwin MW 02:00PM-03:15PM

Cross-listed with RUSS 3050-R01: Prerequisite: sophomore standing. This course will explore the impact of Russia’s turbulent history on literature and on writers struggling to define their integrity under the Communist regime. Focus will be placed on the most resonant voices of 20th century Russia – Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov, Zamyatin, Bulgakov, and others. Conducted in English.

Topics in English: Growing Up Southern (W,O) (3)

3053-091 Luddy R 06:00PM-08:45: PM

Growing up in the American South often means coming to terms with a history, culture, and mindset unlike any other part of the United States. The South has such a rich, complex and diverse culture that even lifelong residents scratch their heads in wonderment. To help us understand this thing called “Growing Up Southern”, we will study literature, films and music. Our primary focus will be on importance of family and place in shaping individual lives. Our lives are determined by our relationship with ourselves and with others, with time, with place, and with culture in which we live. In essence, our relationships are our lives. Writing about them will help us connect the dots of our lives. We will also explore how race, religion, social class, and gender influence growing up in the South. This course meets both writing intensive and oral communication general education goals.

Approaches to Literature (W) (3)

3100-001 Gargano MW 03:30PM-04:45PM

3100-002 Brannon TR 12:30PM-01:45PM

3100-003 TBA TR 02:00PM-03:15PM

3100-090 Moss W 05:30PM-08:15PM

You should take 2100 before taking this course. ENGL 3100 is a prerequisite to be completed before taking 3000 or 4000 level English courses in literature. Introductory study and application of major critical approaches to literature based on close reading of selected literary works. (Required of English majors and minors.) (Restricted to English and Education Majors.)

Children’s Literature (L) (3)

3103-001 West TR 11:00AM-12:15PM

Students in this course will read several classics in children’s literature as well as a number of contemporary children’s books. Among the topics that will be covered during class lectures are the history of children’s literature, major genres in children’s literature, and the censorship of controversial children’s books. This section of Children’s Literature will be taught in lecture format and is not restricted. (Large Lecture.)

Literature for Adolescents (L) (3)

3104-090 Moss M 05:30PM-08:15PM

Students will read twelve books that were written primarily for adolescent and young adult readers. Class discussions will be devoted to analyzing these books, defining the major characteristics of adolescent literatures, and examining the history of this type of literature. Students will also discuss how the concepts of identity formation relate to these books.

Introduction to Modern American English (3)

3132-001 Roeder MW 02:00PM-03:15PM

This course provides an introduction to the inner workings of modern American English, including examination of the sound inventory and sound patterns of the language, the structure of words and phrases, word creation and word meaning, language use in social context, language acquisition, dialect variation and change within the United States, and how the language has changed over the centuries and continues to change. (The course may be used to fulfill the Language Studies requirements for the English major.)

American Literature Survey (3)

3300-001 Lewis TR 03:30PM-04:45PM

This survey course includes texts selected from over 400 years of American Literature – from the Colonial Period (including literature of the First Contact and early works from New France, New Spain, and New England) to the Modern Period.  Through anthologized readings (poems, histories, essays, fictions, and dramas), selected images, and other media, we will investigate fundamental questions about American Literature and American Literary History. In what ways might American Literature be considered distinctly American?  How might we define literature?  What conclusions can we reasonably reach about particular authors, texts, will include texts by well-known figures and lesser known voices.  It will include voices of women, of Native Americans, of African Americans speaking at times in counterpoint to the dominant culture.  We will sample both broadly and deeply from the national literature.  (This course is a survey requirement for English majors who have entered the program since fall 2002)

American Literature Survey (3)

3300-091 Vetter W 05:30PM-08:15PM

This course surveys U.S. literature written from its beginnings to the late twentieth century, focusing both on works within major literary movements as well as texts outside the traditional canon. By reading texts in a range of genres and from a variety of perspectives, we will strive to unearth what these texts can reveal to us about how different writers, communities, and cultures define and articulate what it is to be “American” and what constitutes “American literature.”

British Literature Survey I (3)

3301-001 Munroe MW 02:00PM-03:15PM

3301-090 Melnikoff R 06:30PM-09:15PM

Fulfilling the British literature survey requirements for English majors, this course offers a wide-ranging survey of English literature from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. During the semester, we will examine the context, ideas and genres of a variety of literary materials, from Beowulf to The Faerie Queene to Paradise Lost. Class discussions, essays, examinations and quizzes are all designed to promote a sustained critical engagement with some of the seminal works in the early history of English literature. (This course is a survey requirement for English majors who have entered the program since fall 2002.)

British Literature Survey II (3)

3302-001 McGavran MW 02:00PM-03:15PM

Cross-Listed with 5050: This course surveys British and other Anglophone Literature of the 18th 19th 20th centuries—mostly poetry and prose fiction. Major authors, literary movements, ideas, and cultural issues will be addressed. Writing assignments will include homework, a limited-scope research paper, and an essay midterm and final exam. (This course is a survey requirement for English majors who have entered the program since fall 2002).

British Literature Survey II (3)

3302-002 Moss MW 03:30PM-04:45PM

This course introduces British literature of the early eighteenth (e.g. Neoclassic), late eighteenth and early nineteenth (e.g. Romantic), late nineteenth (e.g. Victorian), early twentieth (e.g. modernist) and late twentieth (e.g. Post-colonial) centuries. We will read and discuss representative authors of each period, defining each era by its characteristic controversies and literary forms. In this course we’ll investigate the thematic and formal richness of this period of British literature. We’ll focus on some subjects and themes that haunt these works: imperialism and slavery; romanticism and the power of nature; the debates on women’s freedom; an entrenched class system and social reform; the nineteenth-century fascination with criminality and the development. (This Course is a Survey Requirement for English majors who have entered the program since fall 2002).

Independent Study (1-3)

3852/4852-001, 002, 003, Staff TBA

Independent study courses are available to undergraduate students under certain conditions. These courses must be arranged with individual instructors before registration and are intended to enable students to pursue studies in areas not provided by regularly scheduled courses. For further information, students should see their advisor.

Topics in English: The Promised Land: U.S. Multicultural Women’s Literature (3,3G)

4050/5050-001 Socolovsky TR 09:30AM-10:45AM

This course examines selected works of the 20th and 21st century that negotiate questions of space and place in the U.S. Specifically we look at the presence of limits and constraints in U.S. Landscape and culture, and consider how the powerful myth of the promised land as a limitless space, without boundaries, and with endless possibilities, has to be reworked by various immigrant and ethnic writers from different groups. The course explores the concepts of borderlands, transgression and constraint, and examines the different narratives of promise offered by areas of the U.S. (e.g. New York, California). Texts will be read from the following ethnic groups: African-American, Jewish-American, Latino, Arab-American, Asian-American, Cuban-American, Puerto Rican, and Indian-American. Students will read comparatively.

Topics in English: Shakespeare in England

4050/5050-008 Hartley F 09:30AM-10:45AM

This course presents a unique opportunity to discover Shakespeare, his world and his theatrical legacy in England. After a three-week pre-session at UNC Charlotte, students will spend ten days in London and Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace), exploring the places that shaped the playwright's personal and professional life, and seeing the best productions of his work that modern British theatre has to offer. Students will study Shakespeare’s plays through a combination of literary study and rehearsal room practice. Course cost includes tickets to theatres such as The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal National Theatre, and the recreated New Globe, where students will have a special seminar on the construction and use of this remarkable space. Theatre trips will provide the raw material for wide range of discussions and debates, about actorly performances, about staging choices, and about the meanings of the productions themselves. Please note that registration and payment must be completed by November 5th. For more information about course registration requirements, visit

Topics in English: Understanding Narrative: Movies and Novels

4050/5050-091 Jackson T 05:30PM-08:15PM

This class will work to understand the nature of narrative fiction by focusing on both novels and their film adaptations. We will consider theories of narrative from Aristotle to Postmodernism. Likely novels/films will be: Atonement; The French Lieutenant’s Woman; Beloved; Remains of the Day; Fight Club; The Color Purple; Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now. (Counts as literary theory intensive.)

Topics in English: American Poetry, Text and Image

4050/5050-092 Vetter M 05:30PM-08:15PM

This course begins with an introduction to the practice of reading poetry, but its major emphasis is on the relationship between text and image in American poetry from the nineteenth century (Dickinson, Whitman), the early twentieth-century modernist period, and the contemporary era. We will read poetry in various media—in manuscript, in print, and in digital forms—to explore questions about how the technologies of the page, the book, and the screen affect our reading and interpretive processes. Students will be assessed on in-class participation, journals, an explication, research papers, and an examination. (Counts as national literary.)

Topics In English: Harlem Renaissance To The Present

4050/5050-093 Leak W 05:30PM-08:15PM

This course will explore the African American tradition from the Harlem Renaissance to the contemporary moment.  We will consider some of the seminal concepts developed during the Renaissance and trace their evolution through the WWII years, the Black Arts Movement, up through the contemporary moment.  Because black cultural production has developed throughout the arts, we will consider a broad range of literary and other cultural texts in exploring the journey from Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston in the age of the New Negro to the work of Suzan Lori Parks and Charles Johnson in age of the African American. (Counts as historically-oriented.)

Topics In English: Language and Power

4050/5050-095 Miller W 05:30PM-08:15PM

This course will introduce students to the ways in which power relations and social ideologies are constructed in texts, including written, spoken, and multi-modal texts. We will examine texts relating to gender, race, humor, advertising, politics and ‘new capitalism’, among other topics. The goal of the course is to equip students with linguistic analytic tools to undertake discourse analysis of a variety of texts and to foster a critical stance toward “common sense” beliefs instantiated in texts.

Topics In English: Digital Literacies

4051/5050-094 Avila R 06:30PM-09:15PM

This course provides an overview of the intersections between new digital literacies and school-based literacies. We will also examine how recent innovations in technology have affected our definitions of literacy and critically reflect upon both the positive and negative effects of digital literacies on educational contexts. Students will be expected to actively participate in this learning community and create, as well as evaluate, projects that incorporate the digital tools we will work with throughout the semester.

Multiculturalism and Children Literature (3,3G)

4104-090 Mielke T 05:30PM-08:15PM

Students in this course will read and analyze aspects of multiculturalism in both American literature and in international literature. Through various genres of literature intended for both the child and adolescent reader, students will develop an informed awareness of the political perspective of multicultural literature and will learn to recognize and analyze how adolescent and children’s literature functions to persuade readers to adopt specific cultural models, behaviors, identities, and attitudes.

Ancient World Literatures:

4111-001 Gardner TR 02:00PM-03:15PM

“World Literature” is a staple of American high school and college teaching, yet often newly-graduated teachers feel that they are unprepared to teach this admittedly vast subject.  This course will have content-oriented and pedagogical dimensions; we will explore key works of literature and criticism in the field, as well as include resources available for teachers.  Among the issues we will discuss will be whether there are “universal” values, traditions, symbols and story variants that we find across cultures; how the definition of “world” is changing from “ancient and medieval Western literature” to a more global-historical perspective; whether societies without writing can be considered to have literature; how to read “oral literature”; the history of writing; how suitable modern forms of literary criticism are when applied to ancient works.   

Shakespeare’s Late Plays

4117-001 Melnikoff TR 12:30PM-01:45:PM

This class will explore the plays written by Shakespeare after the turn of the sixteenth century. During the course of the semester, we will pay close attention to the ways in which plays like Othello, Macbeth, Coriolanus, and The Tempest manifest Jacobean anxieties about culture, religion, gender, and sexuality. Performance will be a pervasive element in this course; we will consider Shakespeare’s use and understanding of theatrical performance as a professional dramatist, and we will use performance to heighten our engagement with the plays. A significant part of our time will also be spent perusing film adaptations of Shakespeare’s late drama by such directors as Olivier, Welles, Polanski, and Greenaway. Scene work, a play review, essays and an exam will be assigned with the design of encouraging close engagement with Shakespeare’s rich poetic dramaturgy.

The Romantic Era, 1785-1832 (3)

4120-004 McGavran MW 11:00AM-12:15PM

While the horrors of the slave trade reaches their zenith, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution brought major economic, social, and psychological changes to England in the late eighteenth century.  During these unstable times, British writers of the Romantic Era struggled to find words to express the newly complex realities of their outer and inner worlds.  We will study major works by Mary Wollstonecraft, William Blake, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Mary and Percy Shelley, John Keats, and others.  Discussion will focus on Romantic views of politics, nature and science, society, language, gender, the self, the child, the slave and the antislavery movement.

Language and Culture (3)

4165/5165-090 Blitvich R 05:00PM-07:45PM

This course focuses on the inextricable connections between language and culture. Language is not only part of but also constitutive of our sociocultural and sociopolitical worlds. Thus, learning to use language also entails learning to become insiders or member of particular communities, learning how we make and recognize communities through language use, and how we create and resist particular identities as well as how we create and resist power relations in language use. Central to these perspectives is the assumption that one can only understand language in the contexts in which it is produced and interpreted. Thus, culture permeates every linguistic choice we make when we engage in communication, and it is the filter through which we interpret discourse. The relevance of culture becomes even more evident when two people with dissimilar cultural backgrounds try to communicate with each other. Hence, a substantial part of the course will be devoted to the study of intercultural communication.

Writing User Documents (3, 3G)

4181/5181-090 Toscano M 06:30PM-09:15PM

Prerequisite ENGL 2116: The purpose of this course is to introduce theories, principles, and practices of writing effective user documentation. In a culture inundated with communication mediated by information technologies, writing effectively for technical and professional audiences is essential. In this course, you will be encouraged to participate in a large component of your evaluation. (Computer Classroom) (Satisfies M.A. requirement for Writing/Rhetoric)

Editing Technical Documents (3, 3G)

4183/5183-090 Morgan R 06:30PM-09:15PM

Prerequisite: ENGL 2116 for ENGL 4183 only. This course is designed to introduce you to principles and practices for editing technical documents, both print and online, including instructions, formal reports, articles, and reference manuals. Projects will be selected from among a series of real writing tasks, and will involve both individual and collaborative work. (Computer Classroom) (Satisfies M. A. requirement for Writing/Rhetoric.)

Teaching English/Communication Skills to Middle and Secondary School Learners (3, 3G)

4254/5254-090 Avila T 05:30PM-08:15PM

4251/5254-091 Coffey M 05:30PM-08:15PM

Cross-listed with EDUC 4254/5254: This course addresses from a variety of perspectives the fundamental questions underlying the teaching of English and Language Arts in our schools: ‘What is English for?’, ‘What do we do when we teach English?’, ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ In accordance with the statewide and national standards for English Language Arts programs, the course is designed to build your pedagogical/professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions by combining your conceptual and content knowledge of English studies with pedagogical and reflective knowledge of practice. You will study best practices in English so that you can develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions of an effective, critically, reflective English teacher, responsive to the needs of all students. Among the issues we will discuss are: developing rationales for integrated teaching; planning, design, and implementation of lessons, units, and courses; methods of teaching a variety of genres; and other specialized concerns such as assessment, collaborative learning, censorship, multicultural education, cultural literacy, print and non-print literacies.

Linguistics & Language Learning

4263-090 Miller M 06:30PM-09:15PM

This class will explore processes of second language learning among older children and adults as well as language development in young children learning their first language(s). We will consider different theoretical approaches to language acquisition, including cognitive, psycholinguistic, and sociocultural language theories. As we proceed, students will build on their basic knowledge of different linguistic components (phonology, morphology, syntax and discourse) and how they relate to particular learning situations. The overall goal of the course is to familiarize students with historical and contemporary theory and research on language learning processes, knowledge which is fundamental to undertaking the real-life tasks of teaching and assessment.

Professional Internship (3-6, 3-6G)

4410/5410-090 Bosley R 05:30PM-08:15PM

4410/5410-091 Bosley R 05:30PM-08:15PM

Internships for 3 to 6 credit hours primarily involve writing and other communication tasks. Sites are available for undergraduate and graduate students to work with corporations, non-profit organizations, and governmental groups. Enrollment is by permit only. Contact Dr. Bosley at 704-687-3502.

Independent Study (D) (1-3)

4852-A01, A02, A03, A04, Staff TBA

Independent study courses are available to undergraduate and graduate students under certain conditions. These courses, which must be arranged with individual instructors before registration, are intended to enable students to pursue studies in areas not provided by regularly scheduled courses. For further information, students should see their advisors. Enrollment is by permit only.

Topics in English: Literary Theory (3G)

6070-090 Brintnall M 06:30PM-09:15PM

Cross-Listed with RELS -6671: This course will examine contemporary theories of how texts operate and how texts and readers interact.  It will focus on figures connected to Ferdinand de Saussure's linguistic theory, with significant attention given to Mikhail Bakhtin, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida and Julia Kristeva.  The course should prove generative for students whose work focuses on the interpretation of specific texts (sacred or secular), histories of textual interpretation or the study of literature generally. 

Topics in English: Imaginative Landscapes: Creating Fictional Worlds

6070-092 Parkison W 06:00PM-08:45PM

We’ll begin “painting” with words, creating landscapes and settings for readers to visit and characters to inhabit.  From there, we’ll add motion, action, and momentum to our “painted” settings,  as we envision our fictional worlds as “movies in the mind.”  How will we “invite” our readers to enter?  How do we entice them to stay in our fictional worlds, to linger with our characters?   After “mapping” settings by including detailed architecture, objects, places, and portraiture, we’ll demonstrate how setting creates and inspires stories.  We’ll “research” concrete details by working from photographs both real and imagined.  Finally, the workshop will explore fiction-writing techniques connected to setting, character, and imagery through the critique of student works and the examination of the methods that published writers use to construct imaginative landscapes for readers to enter.   This course is intended for novelists, short-story writers, screenwriters, poets, writers of traditional fiction, and experimental writers.  All are welcome to enter imaginative landscapes and to create worlds of their own.

Topics in English: Gender, Science, and Nature in Early Modern English

6070-093 Munroe W 05:30PM-08:15PM

The seventeenth century in England bore witness to a “scientific revolution” that changed the way people thought about the natural world they lived in. In this course, we will explore how this “revolution” developed, beginning in the early 1600s and ending shortly after the establishment of the Royal Society in 1660, with a focus on both how changing attitudes about the natural world were gendered and how science itself became a gendered endeavor. When Robert Boyle, prominent Royal Society Fellow, differentiates the work of the male scientists from “Ladies Chemistry,” for example, he expresses an anxiety we see throughout this period about claiming the experiments conducted in a laboratory as a “masculine” endeavor as much as he denigrates the medical recipes women prepared in their kitchens as pseudo-science. And “Nature” itself, long gendered feminine, underwent a revaluing, as did the alignment of women with it. Beginning with Francis Bacon’s writings, which catalyzed the “New Science” that is the foundation of the scientific method familiar to us today, we will consider how men and women both sought ways to understand, use, and codify the things of Nature and how in so doing they also engaged in aligning their various enterprises with shifting notions of masculinity and femininity. (Counts as national literature, historically-oriented, and literary theory intensive.)

Introduction to English Studies (3G)

6101-090 Gargano M 06:30PM-09:15PM

An introduction to the advanced, graduate study of literature. The class will involve extensive reading and writing about both literary and theoretical texts. Writing requirements will include a portfolio, an explication essay, and a research essay. (Required of all English M. A. students, preferably at or near the beginning of their program).

The Worlds of Juvenile Literature (3G)

6103-090 West T 05:30PM-08:15PM

This class explores a rich array of children’s literature, including fairy tales and fantasy, picture books, and realistic fiction for a variety of age groups. We’ll approach our readings as serious works of literary fiction, raising complex emotions in their readers, and stimulating thought about major social and cultural issues. In particular, we will focus on such issues as gender roles, class, multiculturalism and heritage, childhood, family, and censorship. Required work will include a seminar paper or project and class presentations.

American Realism & Naturalism

6142-090 Shealy T 05:30PM-08:15PM

As America became more industrialized after the Civil War, its literature reflected the changes in its culture. The last half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of two major movements in American literature: realism and naturalism. In this course, we shall examine the major writers of this period. Among the works we shall read are the following: Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, Wharton’s Summer, Chopin’s The Awakening, Dreiser’s Sister Carrie, James’s The turn of the Screw, Norris’s McTeague, Cather’s My Antonia, Howell’s A Modern Instance, and Frederic’s The Damnation of Theron Ware. (Counts as a national literary and historically-oriented.)

Introduction to the English Language (3G)

6160-090 Lunsford T 06:30PM-09:15PM

As its title indicates, this course is an introduction to language study in English.  There is a sense in which we will range beyond English, in that many of the basic concepts we will deal with—concepts such as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics—apply to study done in all human languages, but our focus will be on English, since much of the research in modern linguistics has been done in (and on) the English language.  Required of all M.A. in English students, preferably at or near the beginning of their programs.

Introduction to Linguistics (3G)

6161-090 Roeder W 06:30PM-09:15PM

In this course, students will study the sound system of English (phonetics and phonology), the word formation system (morphology and lexicon), the structure of phrases and sentences (syntax), the logic of meaning (semantics), and the history of the English language. The universal nature of language will be examined through the comparison of the structure of English to the structure of other languages. In addition, there will be discussion of the interplay of language and society, and the acquisition and learning of both first and second languages. This course is geared towards enabling students to ask critical questions about the English language.

Comparative Language Analysis for Teachers (3G)

6164-090 Blitvich T 06:30PM-09:15PM

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of contrastive language analysis (CA). In this course, we will explore questions such as a) How do language learners’ first languages (L1) affect how they learn and use a second language (L2)? and b) What are some of the typical L2 “errors” made by learners from the same L1? We will compare English with at least two other language varieties, one of which will be Spanish, giving special attention to the role of first language conventions of discourse and rhetorical structure on second language usage, along with cultural and pragmatic dimensions of transfer. These analyses will enable you to identify language learner needs based on an in-depth understanding of English and how it differs from other languages. This course provides training in competency 6 of the state-approved specialty studies competencies in Teaching English as a Second Language, K-12.

Rhetorical Theory (3G)

6166-090 Knoblauch T 06:00PM-08:45PM

The course will survey a variety of Western perspectives on language and discourse from ancient Greece to the present day, including the magical, the ontological, the objectivist, the expressivist, the sociological, and the “postmodern.” Texts of the Western rhetorical tradition represent as theory what most people regard as “common sense” about language, discourse, writers, readers, literature, criticism, knowledge, and the social practices

(teaching, for instance) as well as institutions (schools, for instance) that language “articulates.” To help us explore and situate the varieties of “common sense,” we will read Plato’s Phaedrus, Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine, Descartes’ Discourse on Method, Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (selections), Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria (selections), Nietszche’s Use and Abuse of History, Cassirer’s Language and Myth, Langer’s Philosophy in a New Key, Williams’ Marxism and Literature, Barthes’ Elements of Semiology, Derrida’s Positions, Lyotard’s Postmodern Condition, and Minh-ha’s Woman Native Other.

Teaching College English (3G)

6195-001 Scott W 02:00PM-04:45PM

This class will help to prepare students for teaching first-year writing and related classes. It will encourage students to see the teaching of writing as always highly theoretical, involving complicated choices concerning literacy and learning. Students will read and discuss current research in rhetoric and composition, interview and observe experienced faculty, and design a first-year writing course.

Contexts and Issues in the Teaching of English. (3)  

6274-086 Brannon Online Only

Examine the key concepts of the discipline. Consider identities as readers, writers, teachers, researches, makers of meaning. Emphasis upon critical approaches and pedagogical issues, with special attention to technology in the teaching of language, composition, and literature, as well as cultural contexts for the study of English.

In this course we will consider the following questions:  What is English for?  Who(m) is it for? What does it mean when we say that we are teachers of English?  What activities and engagements will help prepare our students to become adept users of English?--especially in the culturally and linguistically diverse settings of 21st century U.S. schools.  Initiating our inquiries both through our own stories and encounters, we will attempt to identify and locate key issues in the teaching and learning of English.  Our shared reading of critical texts will then help us to contextualize more fully some of these issues: integrating the teaching of writing and literature; teaching to meet the needs of all English language learners; assessing and evaluating student reading and writing; fostering individual and collaborative inquiry-based learning; multicultural education and critical literacy, among many others.

Internship in College Teaching

6495-001 Scott TBA TBA

Prerequisite: ENGL 6195. Teaching one section offered by the UNCC English Department under supervision of English staff. Students will be accepted for internship only near the end of the degree program and upon approval of the department. Students will be assigned to teach selected basic courses, and also will participate in periodic conference and seminars.

Slavery And Race In American Literature (3G)

6685-090 Connolly W 06:00PM-08:45PM

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the slave narrative, as well as abolitionist and plantation novels presented representations of slavery and race that have persisted in American culture to the present day. In this course, we will read works that focus on American slavery, but that vary in genre, audience, political perspective, and time of authorship. We will be looking at both children’s and adult literature, pro- and anti-slavery arguments, and visual images that support and critique racial stereotypes. At the same time, we will attempt to investigate the ways current images of race in the U.S. may be tied to stereotypes and literary depictions created nearly two centuries ago. Texts include Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Confederate schoolbooks, William Lloyd Garrison’s The Slave’s Friend, and Paula Fox’s The Slave Dancer. (Fulfills MA English literature requirement for historically oriented, national literature.) (The course counts toward 12 hours of children’s literature requirements for the MA Concentration in Children’s Literature.) (Counts as a national literature and historically-oriented.)

Directed Reading (1-3G)

6890-001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008 Staff TBA

Directed reading courses are available to graduate students under certain conditions. These courses must be arranged with individual instructors before registering for them and are intended to enable students to pursue studies in areas not provided by regularly scheduled courses. For further information students should see the Graduate Coordinator. NOTE: Only six hours of ENGL 6890 can be applied to the M.A. in English. Enrollment by permit only.

Thesis/Project in the Teaching of English (3G) (6G)

6974-001, 002 Staff TBA

This research integrates the fields of English and Education in a theoretical or application-oriented study. If the thesis/project is the outgrowth of previous coursework, considerable additional research and exposition must be done. Subject to departmental approval.

Thesis (6G)

6996-001, 002, 003, 004 Staff TBA

Students interested in thesis work may not enroll for such work until a written thesis proposal has been approved by the student’s Thesis Committee (three graduate faculty appropriate to the topic) and by the Graduate Coordinator. It is recommended that thesis work not be undertaken until near the end of the graduate program.

Graduate Residence (1G)

7999-001 Pereira TBA

Students who are not registered for course work must register for ENGL 7999 (one-credit hour) in order to complete a thesis and/or take the Comprehensive Exams. No grade will be given.

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